The Complete Works in Philosophy, Politics and Morals of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 3 [of 3]

By Benjamin Franklin

Page 269

Providence to these regions, and so favourablethe climate, that, since the three or four years of hardship in thefirst settlement of our fathers here, a famine or scarcity has neverbeen heard of amongst us; on the contrary, though some years may havebeen more, and others less plentiful, there has always been provisionenough for ourselves, and a quantity to spare for exportation. Andalthough the crops of last year were generally good, never wasthe farmer better paid for the part he can spare commerce, as thepublished price currents abundantly testify. The lands he possessesare also continually rising in value with the increase of population;and, on the whole, he is enabled to give such good wages to those whowork for him, that all who are acquainted with the old world mustagree, that in no part of it are the labouring poor so generallywell fed, well clothed, well lodged, and well paid, as in the UnitedStates of America.

If we enter the cities, we find, that, since the revolution, theowners of houses and lots of ground have had their interest vastlyaugmented in value; rents have risen to an astonishing height, andthence encouragement to increase building, which gives employmentto an abundance of workmen, as does also the increased luxury andsplendour of living of the inhabitants, thus made richer. Theseworkmen all demand and obtain much higher wages than any other partof the world would afford them, and are paid in ready money. Thisrank of people therefore do not, or ought not, to complain of hardtimes; and they make a very considerable part of the city inhabitants.

At the distance I live from our American fisheries, I cannot speakof them with any degree of certainty; but I have not heard, that thelabour of the valuable race of men employed in them is worse paid,or that they meet with less success, than before the revolution. Thewhale-men indeed have been deprived of one market for their oil;but another, I hear, is opening for them, which it is hoped may beequally advantageous; and the demand is constantly increasing fortheir spermaceti candles, which therefore bear a much higher pricethan formerly.

There remain the merchants and shopkeepers. Of these, thoughthey make but a small part of the whole nation, the number isconsiderable, too great indeed for the business they are employedin; for the consumption of goods in every country has its limits;the faculties of the people, that is, their ability to buy and pay,being equal

Text Comparison with The Complete Works in Philosophy, Politics and Morals of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 3 [of 3]

"That by a subsequent article, the council chosen by the people can
effect nothing without the consent of the president general appointed
by the crown; the crown possesses therefore full one half of the
power of this constitution.

_
SIR,
Since the conversation your excellency was pleased to honour me
with, on the subject of _uniting the colonies_ more intimately with
Great Britain, by allowing them _representatives in parliament_, I
have something further considered that matter, and am of opinion,
that such an union would be very acceptable to the colonies,
provided they had a reasonable number of representatives allowed
them; and that all the old acts of parliament restraining the trade
or cramping the manufactures of the colonies be at the same time
repealed, and the British subjects _on this side the water_ put, in
those respects, on the same footing with those in Great Britain,
till the new parliament, representing the whole, shall think it
for the interest of the whole to re-enact some or all of them: it
is not that I imagine so many representatives will be allowed the
colonies, as to have any great weight by their numbers; but I think
there might be sufficient to occasion those laws.

This may inflame matters still
more in that country; farther rash measures there may create more
resentment here, that may produce not merely ill-advised dissolutions
of their assemblies, as last year, but attempts to dissolve their
constitution[102]; more troops may be sent over, which will create
more uneasiness; to justify the measures of government, your writers
will revile the Americans in your newspapers, as they have already
begun to do, treating them as miscreants, rogues, dastards, rebels,
&c.

Respecting _frugality_; the manner of living in America is more
simple and less expensive than that in England: plain tables, plain
clothing, and plain furniture in houses prevail, with few carriages
of pleasure; there, an expensive appearance hurts credit, and
is avoided: in England, it is often assumed to gain credit, and
continued to ruin.

But as I know the mob hate instruction, and the generality would
never read beyond the first line of my lectures, if they were
actually filled with nothing but wholesome precepts and advice, I
must therefore sometimes humour them in their own way.